


Small Voice In The Choir

by Star55



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/F, Genderswap, Girl Direction, Homophobic Language, Slurs, Useless Lesbians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 00:34:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18457844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star55/pseuds/Star55
Summary: Louis is just a little lesbian who wants to audition for the school choir. She doesn't expect to gain a new friend from it.





	Small Voice In The Choir

**Author's Note:**

> There is blink and you'll miss it zouis in this. also side-ziall (because obviously, it _is_ me after all).
> 
> Title taken from Capital Letters by Hailee Steinfeld. 
> 
> I literally started this one year ago in April 2018 when I was suddenly inspired, but then didn't finish it until a few months ago. If there feels like there's any clunkiness, blame that. Also, let's just pretend that I know anything about choirs at all. I know a lot about Glee. That isn't something I should brag about tbh. =/
> 
>  
> 
> as per usual - thanks to emma for the beta and brit-pick, and to leah for the cheerleading ♥
> 
> any leftover mistakes are my own. Please (kindly) tell me if you find something glaringly awful.
> 
>  
> 
> Please do not break the fourth wall and show this to anyone in the band, their family, friends, etc, etc. Thank you. ♥

Lunchtime is when the choir solo auditions are being held. That is less than fifty minutes away and Louis is completely nervous. She looks at the clock on the wall of her classroom, wishing the time to both hurry up and slow down at the same time. She taps a foot impatiently against the leg of her desk and gets a dirty look from her teacher for it. She stops tapping and settles for jiggling her leg instead. 

She has no idea why she let Zayn convince her to audition for a solo. She only joined the choir because everything else was taken and she needed another elective besides PE. It wasn’t like she had a _bad_ voice, it just wasn’t as strong as some of the other girls’ voices were. 

But there she is, heading to the choir room as the bell for lunch rings. She wouldn’t be able to eat even if she tried. Her stomach is in knots. 

Choir is strangely competitive. The girls in her year all want to be leads and have the best solos. It came with some kind of prestigious bragging rights that Louis had no interest in having. She just wants to sing. It was fun, it made her feel good, and it didn’t (usually) involve her getting injured like football did. 

“You got this,” Zayn says. She has a cigarette pack in her hand and Louis knows that she isn’t going to hang around waiting for Louis’ audition. 

“Thanks,” Louis replies. 

“I’m gonna go smoke. I’ll catch you after.” Louis nods and gives Zayn a half-hearted wave as they go in opposite directions.

As Louis pushes open the door for the music corridor, she hears the sounds of people warming up. The choir room is already occupied with two teachers holding the auditions. She joins the throng of preparing students, trying not to look anyone in the eye. These kids can be vicious if they think someone is going to threaten their chances and Louis would rather not be subject to that.

There’s students from every year in the corridor, which is nice. Louis likes seeing the younger kids audition for things. Some of Louis’ classmates don’t share the same opinions though. They think that because they’re in year thirteen that they should automatically get first preferences because it’s their last year of school. 

Solos should go to the best singers, that’s all there is to it – that’s what Louis believes. Louis is a year thirteen student too and she doesn’t care if she gets a solo or not.

Well, she cares a little bit, but not to the point that some of her classmates do. And definitely not enough to try and psych out others. Not like Sally is doing right this moment. Louis huffs and steps forward.

Being the football captain has made Louis a lot more assertive, and a lot more confident. She deals with a lot worse than this every single match.

“Sally, leave her alone, yeah?” Louis says, stepping between Sally and the year eight student. “No one is going to take your precious solos from you, alright? Just leave it.”

Sally shoots Louis a dirty look and puts her hands on her hips, clearly trying to intimidate her. Louis may be short, but she isn’t easily intimidated. 

“And _why_ should I listen to a dyke like you?” 

The entire corridor goes quiet.

Louis’ pulse spikes ever so slightly. “Because if you don’t,” she begins in a whisper. “I’ll tell everyone that you wet the bed when you slept over. When you were _thirteen_.”

Sally flushes and turns on her heel with an enraged noise. It gets the job done, though.

Louis ignores her and turns back to the year eight girl. “You alright?” The girl nods and Louis gives her a half-hearted smile before walking away. 

Yeah, she was outed a few months ago and it’s not been fun, but no one has been too awful about it. Not to her face, at least. But being at an all-girls school is not the place to come out as a lesbian. She tries not to let it get to her. She constantly reminds herself that school is going to be over in a few short months, and that she just has to make it through it before she’s out of Doncaster forever. 

When she came out to Zayn, Zayn shrugged and said “it’s not half obvious. You’re a bit butch”. It wasn’t meant to be mean but Louis spent the remainder of her day looking at her reflection in the mirror wondering exactly _what_ butch looked like. 

Stereotypically she probably fits the ‘butch’ label. Short hair, into sports and roughing it, dressing in clothes that are from the boy’s section. And yeah, she’s a little chubbier than most girls, but she didn’t think that was a defining ‘butch’ trait. But hearing that label felt a bit more _right_ than Louis ever thought it would. 

She wears it like a badge of honour now, and refuses to let anyone use it against her.

It’s also why auditioning for a choir solo is a daunting prospect. The teachers don’t exactly like her. She gives them attitude and only shows respect for the ones that do the same for her. If anything is going to ruin her chances of getting a solo, it isn’t her voice, it’s the teachers.

“Louis Tomlinson you’re next.”

And having a ‘boyish’ name doesn’t help the stereotype, either.

Louis squares her shoulders, ignoring the looks of everyone in the corridor and she strides purposefully towards the choir room. She closes the door firmly behind herself and steps up to the large ‘x’ that’s on the floor with electrical tape. 

“What song are you singing?” Mrs Rogers asks. She’s all no-nonsense and a former nun – if anyone is going to shit on Louis’ chances, it’s her.

“ _Hey There Delilah_ ,” Louis replies. She quickly hands her sheet music to Everett, their pianist, and then steps back into place. 

“Begin.”

Louis closes her eyes and breathes deeply. And _sings_.

“Very well,” Mrs Rogers says after a minute. “The results will be posted–” 

“Hang on,” Miss Reed says. “Can we bring back in Harry Styles? I want to see something.”

Mrs Rogers looks like she’s sucked on a lemon but she nods once, swiftly. She gets up and marches to the door. “Harry Styles, please come back in.”

Miss Reed avoids Louis’ gaze, making notes on the paper in front of her. Mrs Rogers and Harry Styles come in a moment later. Louis’ eyes widen when she realises that Harry is the new student who just transferred in this year. She stays silent, though, wondering what Miss Reed is up to.

Harry gives Louis a confused look as Miss Reed shuffles some papers on her side of the desk before smiling to herself. She gives a piece of sheet music to Everett and then passes one to Louis. 

“You can both share,” she says. “Harry take the first verse, Louis the second and I want you both to sing the chorus, okay?”

Louis and Harry nod in sync. Everett starts playing the piano and Harry begins singing. 

It takes all of her strength to not gape at Harry. Her voice is _amazing_. Louis can’t help but think that Sally is going to be pissed off when Harry gets the lead solo over her. She’s so distracted by Harry’s voice that she almost misses her cue to start singing. 

The moment the first lyrics are out of her mouth, Harry turns to Louis and smiles brilliantly at her. She comes in perfectly for the chorus, their voices blending effortlessly together. They finish the chorus, still looking at each other. 

Miss Reed clapping snaps Louis back to reality. She promptly flushes brightly and ducks her head. 

“That was _wonderful_ , girls. Thank you.”

Mrs Rogers still looks like she’s sucked on a lemon, but she nods all the same. “Very well. The results will be posted on the notice board outside of the choir room when school finishes. You both may go now.”

Louis nods and she follows Harry out of the room, still a little bit overwhelmed with what just happened. Harry falls into step with Louis as they leave the building. 

“You have a really lovely voice,” Harry comments when the doors close behind them. 

Louis flushes again. “Thank you,” she replies. “You too, of course.”

Harry grins at her and Louis’ stomach clenches at the sight. “I’m just excited to be in the choir. My last school didn’t have one.”

“Last school?” Duh, of course she knows that Harry’s just started here, but she doesn’t want Harry to know that she knows.

“Yeah, I just started here this year. It’s a nice school.”

“It’s alright,” Louis agrees. “You’re definitely going to get the lead solo with a voice like yours.”

Pink tinges Harry’s cheeks and she shakes her head. “I’d love that, but I’m not sure. I’ve heard Sally has the best voice.”

A snort escapes Louis. “Sally _thinks_ she has the best voice. You definitely do, curly.” Harry smiles at the nickname and tucks a curl behind her ear. 

“Thank you,” Harry says somewhat shyly. “Good luck, too. I guess I’ll see you after school?”

“Looks like it,” Louis replies with a wink. She walks away, looking back over her shoulder once to see Harry still staring after her. Her stomach flips again, sending tingles all through her tummy. She walks faster, trying to get Harry’s beautiful face out of her mind.

By the time Louis gets to where Zayn hangs out for smoking, the bell is ringing to signal the end of lunch.

“How’d it go?” Zayn asks, stubbing out her cigarette with her shoe. They start walking back towards the school, slower than they probably should, but neither of them care about being late.

“Good. I think?” 

Zayn lifts a perfect eyebrow at her. “You think?”

“Yeah,” Louis begins, “I was singing and Mrs Rogers was about to dismiss me when Miss Reed called Harry Styles back in. You know how Mrs Rogers hates me but Miss Reed _is_ the choir teacher, so she doesn’t really have a say in the matter.”

“Why’d they call Harry back in?”

“To sing with me. God knows why, though, but we did it and the results go up after school so I won’t be able to give you a lift unless you want to hang around?”

Zayn shrugs nonchalantly. “Yeah, I’ll hang around. Got nothing better to do anyway.”

“Alright.”

Zayn bumps her shoulder to Louis’. “I’m sure you did great. Don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks.”

“It’d be ace if you and Harry got to sing over Sally. Imagine that. A chubby lezzer and a lower sixth girl. Her face would be _priceless_.”

Louis snorts. “She’d probably try to sue the school or something for discrimination against straight people.”

Zayn rolls her eyes. “She’s a fucking loser.”

“She is. I can’t believe we used to be best friends. She’s such a homophobic loser.”

“Me either, mate. You were insane before you met me.”

Louis can’t help but laugh. “Clearly.” She pauses. “Harry’s fit, though.”

Zayn gives her an odd look. “Alright.”

Louis flushes. “She’s cute. And a good singer.”

“Keep it in your pants, Tommo. She’s younger than you are.”

“Yeah, I know.”

The rest of the school day seems to drag on. Louis’ attention is elsewhere for every single lesson she has, her mind continuously going back to her audition and Harry’s smile. A smile that she can’t stop thinking about too. Mostly she just hopes that Harry got the lead solo over Sally. That’ll show the stuck up snob.

The final bell rings and Louis is out of her seat before the rest of the class even moves an inch. She hurries to the music corridor, pushing through students spilling out of their classrooms and milling about, clearly determined to be in Louis’ way.

She shoves the doors open to see several students who have somehow already beaten her there. She pushes her way through the crowd, cursing her height as she moves. She can’t see over anyone, even on her tiptoes. She nudges forwards a little more, hearing ‘hey!’ more than once. 

There’s the unmistakable sound of a screech followed by “ _What?!_ ” and Louis just _knows_ that Sally didn’t get the lead.

Someone steps aside and Louis stumbles forwards, finally close enough to see the list. 

Time stops. 

Louis pinches herself to see if she’s sleeping. _Ouch_. Nope. She’s definitely awake.

And that is _definitely_ her name right there under the heading _Lead Soloists_. Right next to Harry Styles. 

“This can’t be right!” Sally exclaims. “Why would Mrs Rogers give the dyke the lead solo over _me_?”

“Probably because she’s got an amazing voice.”

For the second time that day, the entire corridor goes silent.

Harry has appeared out of nowhere at Louis’ side and is looking at the list. “Hey, great job! You got a solo!”

Louis promptly flushes at the attention. “Thanks,” she mumbles.

“Oh, did you see this? Miss Reed wants to see us both before we go home.”

Louis follows Harry’s finger to the note at the bottom of the list where Miss Reed’s scrawl says exactly that. 

“C’mon.” Harry tugs on Louis’ elbow and she follows her into the choir room where Miss Reed is putting away music stands. 

“Girls! You got my note. Excellent. I won’t be a moment.”

Instead of just waiting, Harry immediately starts helping Miss Reed. From their teacher’s reaction, it isn’t the first time that Harry has helped her like this. Louis sets her school bag down and joins them. 

They make quick work of it and Miss Reed is turning to face them just a few minutes later. 

“Right, I’ll get straight to it then. You’re doing a duet together and the rest of the choir will be there for the chorus.”

Louis gapes. “What?” 

Miss Reed nods. “The performance is in a month, so this will take a _lot_ of practice from you both, but I’m sure you can handle it. Right?”

Harry nods enthusiastically and Louis nods once. 

“Fantastic. Here’s the sheet music. I want you to get started as soon as possible. Our next lesson will be going over everyone else’s solos and the songs we’re singing. I’d really like it if you both could sing a little during the lesson to show the other girls what preparation and hard work is like, alright?”

“Of course, Miss Reed,” Harry agrees readily. 

Louis’ brain is still stuck on the fact that _she_ is a lead singer. 

“Wonderful.” Miss Reed claps her hands together, beaming at them both.

“Miss Reed, why me?” Louis’ mouth speaks before her brain can catch up.

“Why not? Your audition was lovely, Louis,” she begins. “And when you sung with Harry, I knew that you were the pair I was looking for.”

“But Mrs Rogers hates me,” Louis replies. 

“Mrs Rogers doesn’t hate you,” Miss Reed says, tutting. “I’m the choir teacher and my vote is final. Alright?”

“Yes, Miss Reed.”

“Good. Now, I expect you girls to give this performance your best.” Both Harry and Louis nod. “Alright, you may go now.”

“Thank you, Miss Reed,” Harry says. She picks up her school bag and puts her sheet music carefully inside of it before swinging the bag onto her shoulders.

Louis bids their teacher goodbye as well and follows Harry from the room.

“I still can’t believe that the _lead song_ is going to the _fat dyke_. This is outrageous!” Those are the first words Louis hears upon exiting the choir room.

She turns to leave the corridor completely, to ignore Sally and her friends. But she stops in her tracks when Harry turns to Sally, her face angry. Louis finds she can’t look away.

“Louis auditioned just like we all did and she got the song on her own merit. So _what_ is your problem?”

“Dykes don’t deserve to sing the lead in songs,” Sally replies evenly. Her friends openly laugh.

“Well, then die mad about it because this lead song is being sung by _two_ dykes.”

With that, Harry turns on her heel and marches away. Louis quickly follows her before Sally can properly react.

“Harry!” Louis calls, chasing after her. 

Harry barely slows down. “I’m going to miss my bus,” she says when Louis catches up with her. 

“I’ll give you a lift home,” Louis replies easily. Harry blinks at her. “I’ve got to drop Zayn off too, but I don’t mind giving you a lift.”

“…Alright then.”

“C’mon, I’m this way.” 

She doesn’t want it to be awkward, but it is. She knows it is. Harry just outed herself to protect Louis from Sally’s bullying. By tomorrow morning, the entire school is going to know that Harry is a lesbian, and that’s a scary situation. Louis’ been in that exact situation.

“Um,” she says when they’ve just turned into the student car park. “If you want to talk–” 

“I don’t,” Harry replies curtly. She sighs and then stops in her tracks. “I mean, thank you. I didn’t expect that to come out. Thank you for your kind words, though.”

Louis cocks her head, giving Harry a confused look. “Alright, curly,” she says. “For the record, it’s nice knowing that I’m not the only lesbian in the school.”

“Isn’t your friend Zayn…?”

“She’s bisexual,” Louis replies easily. They start walking again. Zayn is lounging against Louis’ car, looking every part of the ‘cool and casual’ that she tries to go for. An unlit cigarette dangles from her lips.

“You’re not lighting that in my car,” Louis says by way of greeting. “This is Harry.”

Zayn nods once. “Hey.”

Harry waves at Zayn. It’s a little awkward. 

“I’m dropping her off,” Louis says. She unlocks the car and throws her bag into the backseat. “We both got the lead solo. Sally’s head practically exploded.”

Zayn snorts. She and Harry get into the passenger’s side of the car with Harry in the backseat. 

“Where do you live, Harry?” Louis asks as she starts the car. The engine makes a whining sound and Louis reaches over, patting the dashboard. “You can do it, baby,” she mutters. The engine rumbles happily. “Say that again?” she asks, catching Harry’s gaze in the rear view mirror. Harry says where she lives and Louis perks up, smiling. “That’s right near me. I’ll drop you off first, Zayn.”

“Alright,” Zayn replies. Her feet are on the dashboard, and she’s picking at her chipped black nail polish, leaving flecks all over the car seat. 

“So, um,” Louis begins, racking her brain, trying to think of something to say. “Harry stood up for me against Sally just now.”

Zayn looks at Louis. “ _Really_?”

That was probably the wrong thing to say, considering she had told Zayn earlier that she thought Harry was fit. 

“Sally’s so mean,” Harry says from the back seat. “She is _not_ my kind of friend.”

“She’s not anyone’s kind of friend,” Zayn replies, putting her cigarette in her mouth again. She doesn’t light it, which Louis is grateful for. “Except for Louis. They used to be _best_ friends.”

Louis flicks Zayn in the thigh. “Bitch,” she mutters without any heat. Zayn grins. 

“…Wow.” Harry gives Louis a stunned look, and Louis quickly averts her eyes, focusing on the traffic around them.

“Yeah,” Louis says with a heavy sigh. “We used to be friends before secondary school. Then she became a massive ball sack and we stopped being friends.”

Harry nods. “Understandable.”

They pull up to Zayn’s place and Louis idles at the kerb. 

“See you tomorrow,” Zayn says. She leans over and kisses Louis soundly on the lips, lingering longer than she usually does. Louis knows that this is for Harry’s benefit. Probably to see if Harry is homophobic. But Zayn doesn’t know that Harry’s a lesbian, too. 

“See you tomorrow,” Louis says softly, licking her lips. Zayn lights up her cigarette as she opens the car door. She steps out and walks off without looking back at them.

Harry climbs into the front seat and clicks her seatbelt into place. “Um, is this okay?” she asks.

Louis gives her a crooked smile. “’Course it is.” She pulls away from the kerb and starts driving towards Harry’s street. 

“I didn’t know that you and Zayn were girlfriends,” Harry says after an entire street length of silence. 

“We’re not,” Louis replies. “People just assume we are because we’re the social rejects that don’t have any friends, but we’re not girlfriends.”

“But she kissed you?” 

“That’s just Zayn.”

“Oh.”

“She likes this girl that works at McDonald’s,” Louis continues. “She’s blonde, cute, loud, and exactly Zayn’s type.”

“I like butch girls,” Harry says. Louis blushes brightly. “This is my house.”

Louis blinks and puts her indicator on, pulling up to the kerb. 

“Um, so we should probably get together to rehearse soon?” Louis says as Harry unclicks her seat belt. 

“I’m free tomorrow, if you are?” 

Louis nods. “Yeah, I am.”

Harry reaches into her school bag and pulls out her phone. “Here, give me your number and we can make a proper plan.” Louis takes the phone and types her number into the contacts list and passes it back. “Thanks.”

“Any time,” Louis replies. 

Harry gives her a beaming smile before getting out of the car. 

The butch comment rolls around in Louis’ mind the rest of her drive home.

~*~

Rehearsals go well.

Louis can’t quite get over how well Harry’s voice goes with hers. It’s something she’s never experienced before. That could also be because any time Louis had been in the choir before she was always at the back, hiding behind the real talent. Namely Sally. 

True to Louis’ suspicions, the rumours about Harry being a lesbian were spread throughout the school before their first lesson was even over.

Feeling somewhat responsibly, Louis takes Harry under her wing. She only has one friend, who tags along with Harry when Louis invites them to sit with her and Zayn at lunch. It’s a girl that’s on the footie team with Louis, Liam something or other than Louis can’t exactly remember. She’s sporty, like Sporty Spice if she was a teenager now. With lighter hair. And crinkles near her eyes when she smiles. And looks cute as a button out of her PE uniform.

Every choir practice, Sally shoots them daggers. She had complained wildly about how _unfair_ and how _inappropriate_ it was that Louis and Harry had the lead solos – how confusing it will be for the audience to see two lesbians up there.

It had absolutely made Louis’ day when Miss Reed snapped and told Sally that if she didn’t like it she could quit choir because she wasn’t going to stand for the blatant homophobia any more. Watching Sally’s face pale and then turn red with embarrassment had been the best thing to happen to Louis all year. It was incredible. 

She had caught Harry’s eye when it had happened and _knew_ that Harry was biting back a smile as big as Louis was.

“Serves her right,” Zayn says, stubbing out her cigarette on the bottom of her school shoe. “She’s fucking horrible.”

It’s the next morning, and it’s the first chance that Louis has had to be able to talk to Zayn about it. She looks broody. Well, broodier than usual. Louis’ a little worried about her.

“You alright?” 

Zayn nods, avoiding Louis’ gaze. Louis grabs Zayn’s hand, tugging her close. Zayn wraps her arms around Louis’ middle and sags against her.

“I asked Niall out.”

Louis gasps. Dramatically. Because she does everything dramatically if given a chance.

“She said yes.”

“Then why do you look so glum?” Louis wonders. “She’s the girl you’ve been pining after for _months_ now.”

Zayn shrugs. “What if she doesn’t like me?”

“Zayn,” Louis says, tightening her arms around her best friend’s middle. “She wouldn’t have said yes if she didn’t like you at least a little bit. You’ve been going into McDonald’s almost every day just to see her. You don’t even _eat_ that much fast food.”

A small hum comes from the back of Zayn’s throat. “What if–”

“Let me stop you right there,” Louis interrupts. “Just go out with her. Get out of your head a bit, yeah?”

Zayn lets out a heavy sigh. “Yeah. Alright.”

Louis grins. “Good.” She pushes Zayn’s hair over her shoulder. “You won’t be able to snog me anymore if you get with Niall.”

The rolling of Zayn’s eyes makes Louis smile even wider.

“Did you see Harry’s face after I kissed you in your car the other day? She looked like I kicked her puppy. She proper likes you.”

Louis lets go of Zayn and shoves at her. “Don’t be stupid.”

Zayn snorts. “I’m not being stupid. She likes you. It’s written all over her face.”

It’s Louis’ turn to roll her eyes this time. She pushes off her car and starts walking into the school building, Zayn not too far behind her. 

“And you lectured me about being in denial,” Zayn mutters. 

“We’re just in the choir together, that’s all.”

“Yeah, and you’re both lezzers, too. It’s a match made in heaven.”

Louis doesn’t dignify that with a response.

Later, after choir practice is over, and Miss Reed has dismissed them, Louis heads for the car park. Zayn’s already left, leaving Louis to drive home by herself. She didn’t expect Zayn to hang around for ages after school waiting for her.

“Could you give me a lift home?”

Louis looks up to see Harry hurrying along after her. 

“Please?”

An easy smile spreads across Louis’ lips as she nods. “Of course, curly. Hop in.”

“Thanks.”

They get into Louis’ car and she reverses out of her spot. The car shudders a little as she pauses to give way to some traffic as she exits the school, but it’s quickly over and she makes the turns that lead to Harry’s house.

“Did you want to practice some more this weekend?” Harry asks as Louis turns a corner. “I’m free all weekend.”

“I’ve got work, and footie, but other than that, I’m free. When did you want to meet up?”

“Whenever,” Harry replies. “I can always come to your house?”

“God no,” Louis quickly says. “My sisters would eat you alive. Plus, it’s loud there. And you’re an only child, right?”

Harry shakes her head. “I’ve got an older sister. But she’s at uni. So it’s just me at home. And my parents, too, I mean.”

“Your place it is, curly,” Louis replies. She pulls up at Harry’s house. “Here we go.”

“You could sleep over, if you like?” Harry offers, not getting out of the car just yet. 

Louis’ heart thuds a little louder in her chest. “Uh, I’ll have to check. I’ll get back to you, yeah?”

Harry nods. “Have a good night.” She gives Louis a blindingly bright smile and gets out of the car. Louis stupidly watches her walk away. She has such a bouncy walk, she notices. She zooms away faster from the kerb than she expects to and heads home, her face burning the entire time.

~*~

Louis spends the majority of her Saturday afternoon at Zayn’s, trying to stop her from freaking out about her date with Niall. She’s already spent her entire morning at work, and is now dealing with Zayn at her most dramatic. This day is _exhausting_.

“Come with me?” Zayn asks for the umpteenth time. “Please?”

Again, Louis shakes her head. “I’m not going on your date with you. I don’t even know Niall, it would be weird.”

Zayn flops back dramatically on her bed. “What if I fuck it up? Do I kiss her? What if she kisses me?”

Louis makes herself comfortable on the bed next to Zayn. “You’re a pretty great kisser, so you don’t have to worry about that. Just be you. Hold her hand, share the popcorn, all of that cheesy stuff people do on dates to the cinema.”

“I can’t believe I’m taking her to see a _movie_ for our first date,” Zayn mumbles through her arms that she’s thrown over her face. “I’m a cliché.”

“Clichés exist for a reason.” Louis pokes Zayn’s arm until she moves it off her face. “Besides, it’s a good way to be with someone without the pressure of having to talk too much to them. Especially when you’re shy like you are.”

“’M not shy,” Zayn says with a sigh. “I just don’t like talking to people.”

“I know.”

She laces their fingers together and squeezes Zayn’s hand. 

“Snog me for a bit?” Zayn asks, rolling onto her side to face Louis.

“No,” Louis replies, shaking her head. “Your lips are only going to touch Niall’s from now on.”

“Some friend you are.”

Louis lets the comment slide. She knows Zayn is just nervous. She opens up her arms and Zayn burrows in close, tucking her head underneath Louis’ chin. She lets out a slow breath and curls her hands into Louis’ shirt.

“It’ll be okay,” Louis whispers. “I’ll keep my phone on me at all times and come pick you up if you need it.”

Zayn nods against Louis’ chest. “Alright,” she mutters. 

They lay there for a little while longer until Louis repeatedly pokes Zayn in the arm for her to get up to get changed. She stays until the very last minute before driving back to her own house. She gets home in time to give her sisters kisses, her mum a big hug, and pick up her bag to take to Harry’s. She can’t believe she’s actually sleeping over at Harry’s. It feels a bit odd, but Harry’s a bit odd, so it goes hand in hand, she thinks.

Harry’s house is huge. Well, it looks huge because it isn’t overrun by Louis’ siblings. And it’s a level of clean that Louis didn’t think existed outside of the telly. 

And Harry… she looks. She looks _cute_ out of her uniform. She’s wearing just a simple plaid shirt with black skinny jeans, but she looks ridiculously cute. Louis’ heart stutters in her chest when Harry opens the door and leads her inside. 

“I thought we could rehearse for a bit?” Harry says as she takes Louis’ bag off her and puts it at the end of her bed. Her pristinely made bed, adorned with throw pillows and a few teddies, too. 

Louis picks up a pink Care Bear. “I have Funshine Bear.”

Harry beams at her. “That makes sense,” she says. Louis gives her a quizzical look. “Because you’re like a ray of sunshine.”

Louis ducks her head, blushing furiously. 

“That’s Cheer Bear,” Harry continues easily. “I got her when I was a baby. I can’t bear to sleep without her. Get it? Bear?”

Louis snorts and passes the teddy back. “Your room is cool.”

“Thank you,” Harry says. 

Louis wanders around, trailing her finger over the spines of several books that line a shelf in the bookcase. There’s CDs lined perfectly on one shelf, alphabetised, by the looks of it. She stops at a photo that’s on a lower shelf. It’s framed in a cheesy ‘best friends’ frame, but it’s so very Harry that Louis is helpless but to smile. 

In the photograph with Harry is Liam, and a familiar looking blonde girl that Louis can’t quite place just yet. 

“That’s Niall,” Harry says.

Louis almost drops the frame. “Zayn’s out on a date with her right now!”

Harry’s eyes widen dramatically. “Zayn’s the one Niall is going out with? That’s so awesome!”

Louis fishes her phone out of her pocket. There aren’t any messages from Zayn yet, so she figures that things are going well. She passes the frame to Harry, who puts it back in its exact spot on the shelf. 

“I can’t believe that my best friend is going out with your best friend.”

Louis’ lips quirk in a smile. “It’s a small world.” She wanders over to the other side of Harry’s room, picking up the book that’s sitting on top of her bedside drawer, and flips it open to where Harry’s bookmark rests. 

“Anyway, did you want to rehearse a bit?” Harry asks, her cheeks burning as she takes the book off Louis.

“What’s that?” Louis asks, intrigued. 

“Nothing,” Harry mumbles, tucking the book into the top drawer. She stands in front of it so that Louis can’t open it and have a look.

“Got a bit of sexy reading there, curly?” Louis teases, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

The flush that covers Harry’s cheeks indicates that she’s right. Louis kicks off her shoes and climbs up onto the bed. 

“Alright, let’s rehearse, then.”

Harry visibly relaxes. She pulls out her sheet music and sits down next to Louis on the bed. They warm up for a few minutes before starting to sing together. Louis’ skin prickles with goosebumps whenever Harry hits a particularly high note. It’s like going to an Adele concert, she thinks.

They sing the other songs that their choir are performing as well, not just the one that they’re leads in, and the goosebumps don’t go away.

After a while, Louis gets up to stand while singing, feeling better that she’s not just hunched over. Harry joins her. Harry is ridiculously tall, Louis notices. Has Harry always been this tall?

At the end of the song, Harry gives Louis a look that she can’t decipher.

“Can I use your loo?” she asks.

Harry nods and gives Louis directions to where it is in the house.

She takes a few minutes to herself to get her breathing under control. It won’t do her any good to get distracted by how cute Harry is and forget the words to the songs. She’s done that more times than she’d care to admit already. But Harry is just so _captivating_. Louis is weak and so very, very gay.

As Louis makes her way back to Harry’s room, her phone buzzes in her pocket. She pauses and checks it to see that Zayn has just texted her a thumbs up emoji. She breathes a sigh of relief. Things are going well between them, then. 

She pushes the door open to Harry’s room and catches Harry in the middle of belting out a song that isn’t on their list for choir. Louis stands there, completely stunned. Harry’s eyes are closed and she’s completely lost in the song she’s singing. Her voice is _incredible_ , Louis thinks, not for the first time since hearing it. She has a real talent.

Abruptly, Harry stops singing. Her cheeks go impossibly red as she looks at Louis standing in the doorway of her room.

“Um…”

“You’re really good,” Louis says dumbly. “Like _really_ good.”

“Um, thanks,” Harry says, blushing still.

“Like better than Sally could ever hope to be.”

Harry perks up at this. “Really?”

Louis nods. “Yeah, really.”

The smile that crosses Harry’s face makes Louis’ toes curl into the carpet of her bedroom floor. A voice from behind Louis startles her out of the way.

“You must be Louis,” a gorgeous woman says, a kind smile on her face. Harry is an absolute spitting image of her, so Louis figures that this is her mum.

“I am,” Louis replies with a nod. “It’s lovely to meet you, Mrs Styles,” she says, sticking out her hand for the woman to shake.

“Mrs Twist, but you can call me Anne.” She shakes Louis’ hand and gives her another warm smile. “I brought home dinner for you from your favourite Chinese place, H,” she says, looking at Harry. “Dad and I are going to go out. Give you girls some privacy to sing.”

“Thanks, Mum,” Harry says. She pushes passed Louis and makes her way out of the room. 

“I hope you like Chinese, Louis?”

Louis nods. “I love it,” she says, following Anne down the hallway. 

True to her word, Anne doesn’t stick around for long. Louis briefly catches a glimpse of her and another male as they leave the house and she figures that’s Harry’s dad. She’s not surprised when she says that her mum re-married, and that Robin isn’t her biological father, but she loves him just the same.

After their dinner, they make their way into the lounge room. Harry stands in front of the television, something in her hands behind her back.

“Promise not to judge me?” she asks, turning those big green eyes on Louis. She’s absolutely done for. Harry could ask her to rob a bank with her and Louis would be the one driving the car.

Instead of giving Harry a verbal response, she just nods her head. Harry produces DVDs from behind her back. That is much tamer than robbing a bank, Louis concedes. As she tilts her head to read the title and can’t help but smile.

“ _Glee_?”

“Don’t judge!” Harry quickly exclaims. “I thought it could be good research?”

Louis grins widely. She folds her legs up and tucks her feet underneath herself on the sofa. “Alright, I’m dying to hear how this is research, curly.”

“We could watch their competition episodes?” 

“For what _not_ to do?” 

Harry makes a face. “Well, um…” she blushes and ducks her head.

“Alright,” Louis agrees. “We’ll watch _Glee_ for research.”

Harry gives her a dazzling smile in response. Louis is screwed.

Harry doesn’t seem to have a particular order that she wants to watch the episodes in, it seems. Three episodes later, Harry is changing the disc again and settling back on the sofa next to Louis, a little closer than she had been before getting up. Louis’ heart thuds in her chest.

“I wish that they’d had better representation for LGBT people,” Harry says. “Santana is very mean for a lesbian, they _completely_ ignore Brittany’s bisexuality, and there’s _zero_ bi guys – just two gay ones who, while are cute, don’t represent _every_ gay guy that I know. And there’s no butch girls, either.”

It’s Louis’ turn to go red. She plays with the hem of her shirt, curling it around her index finger.

“And I’m meant to believe that Rachel and Quinn aren’t madly in love?” Harry carries on like Louis’ face isn’t red as a tomato. “Please. Rachel has _zero_ chemistry with Finn, and deserves _so much_ better from the people she’s dating.”

“Just research, huh?” Louis eventually gets out. She hopes her face isn’t as red any more. 

Harry’s lips twitch. “Um…”

Louis shoots her an easy grin. “It’s alright, curly. I had a _Glee_ phase, too.” 

“Oh,” Harry says, sounding relieved. “That’s good. At least what I’m saying makes sense to you, then. And I’m not just psycho babbling.”

“Oh, you are,” Louis teases. “But it’s okay.”

Harry smiles. It’s beautiful. Louis wants to spend the rest of her life making Harry smile like that. She sighs internally. If only.

Harry finally presses play on the DVD and another episode rolls on the screen. 

“I love Lady Gaga!” Harry says after the first song. “She’s the best.”

“She is,” Louis agrees.

“C’mon, sing with me!” Harry exclaims. She gets up and holds her hand out to Louis. She looks at it warily before Harry is reaching over and grabbing her hand, forcing Louis to get up.

With the remote in hand, Harry skips to a song and starts belting out _Bad Romance_ along with Santana and the rest of the glee club. 

Louis loses herself in the song, and in the fun of sharing such a moment with Harry. She laughs as Harry really gets into it, making claw hands like the kids on the screen. Louis joins her, making ‘scary’ faces as they sing. Harry pushes the coffee table out of the way and does an impressive twirl, the sides of her shirt puffing out as she spins. She stumbles and Louis automatically reaches out to steady her. Harry grips onto Louis’ biceps with both hands, giggling as she rights herself. 

They’re standing face to face, impossibly close now. Louis is sure that one of Harry’s feet is on top of her own, but she can’t really feel anything other than Harry’s hands on her arms right now. Their gazes catch and Louis’ heart thuds in her chest. Her tongue darts out to lick her lips and her cheeks go bright red when Harry’s does the same. 

“Um,” she says, breaking away. “I’m just gonna go to the loo.”

She dashes off and closes the door firmly behind her. She leans heavily against it, trying to get her breathing under control. Her eyes are closed and her pulse is still racing. She mentally berates herself for getting too close to Harry. Zayn is right – Harry’s younger than she is. It wouldn’t do her any good to act on her silly little crush. Besides, Harry probably isn’t interested in the slightest in Louis at all.

“Did you want to watch another episode?” Harry offers when Louis eventually re-joins her in the lounge room. “Or did you want to go to bed?”

“Um, bed is okay?” she says hesitantly. “I don’t mind either way.”

They stay up, watching another few episodes, sitting as far away from each other on the sofa as they can.

Anne and Robin come home around midnight, giggling into each other’s shoulders. Anne gives Harry a kiss on her forehead and gently squeezes Louis’ shoulder before making her way upstairs to her room. 

Half way through the next episode, Harry yawns widely. She rubs at her eyes with her hands and Louis picks up the remote, turning off the television.

“C’mon, curly, you’re tired, let’s go to bed.”

“Okay,” Harry says sleepily.

Louis follows her upstairs. She takes her pyjamas to the bathroom to get changed into and quickly brushes her teeth. It’s only when Louis is putting her clothes back into her bag that she realises that she didn’t bring a sleeping bag or anything like that with her.

“Get in,” Harry says from the bed. She’s already under the covers, looking far cuter than she has any right to. 

“Umm… I can sleep on the floor?” 

“Don’t be silly, my bed is plenty big enough.” It’s not a lie, Harry has a queen sized bed. And Louis is small, but she’s chubby, so she takes up more room in bed than Harry does.

Harry flicks back the covers and Louis hesitates before climbing into the bed next to her. She lies on her back, staring up at the ceiling.

“When did you know you were gay?” Harry whispers. The room is mostly dark, save for a faint string of fairy lights that Harry has across the top of her head board.

“After watching _Grease_. I wanted to be Danny Zuko.”

Harry shifts, rolling onto her side to face Louis. “I didn’t ever like boys,” she says softly. “Gemma would talk about boys when she was in high school and I remember thinking ‘ _why_?’ Girls were _so much_ better than boys could ever dream of being.”

Louis looks over at her. Harry’s gaze is facing down, like she’s a little ashamed of herself. “I was five.” Harry’s gaze flicks up to meet hers. “That’s when I first watched _Grease_.”

“Really?”

Louis nods.

“That’s cool. Does your mum know?”

Louis gives her a pointed look. “People know just by looking at me.”

“People shouldn’t stereotype,” Harry whispers. Her hand comes up, curling at the edge of her pillow. “You could’ve been straight.”

Louis snorts indelicately. “Girls are so much better than boys could ever dream of being,” she quotes, giving Harry a cheeky grin. Harry smiles back. It’s so beautiful it makes Louis’ heart ache.

“Does your mum know?”

Harry bites her lip. “I think so? I haven’t ever _said_ anything to her, but when Gemma was my age, she’d already had three boyfriends.”

“Gemma had _three_ boyfriends at sixteen?”

“I’m seventeen,” Harry replies. “But yeah, she didn’t like to be tied down to one boy for too long.”

“Respect,” Louis mutters. Harry’s only a year younger than she is. Huh. How did she not know this? 

“But I’m kind of scared to tell her…”

Louis rolls onto her side, facing Harry. “I get it. I was scared when I told my mum. She just said ‘poppet, I’ve known since you watched _Grease_ for the first time’.”

Harry chuckles. “I like the sound of your mum.”

“She’s the best.”

Harry yawns widely. She lazily covers her mouth with her hand. “I just want to be able to bring home a girl and say ‘mum, this is my girlfriend’ and not have it be a big deal.”

“Yeah,” Louis says with a nod. “I get it. One day we won’t have to come out. We’ll just say we’re in love and that’ll be it.”

“One day…” Harry echoes. She yawns again and shuffles sleepily over into Louis’ space. “Night, Louis.” Her lips press briefly against Louis’ own, warm, soft, and everything Louis thought they would be. It’s over before Louis really registers what’s going on. And Harry is fast asleep before the rest of Louis’ brain can catch up.

She doesn’t get much sleep that night.

~*~

“You’re being weird.”

Zayn blows a stream of smoke out of her mouth, her head turned away from Louis. They’re both leaning against Louis’ car. It’s Monday morning and Louis has barely slept all weekend. Those two seconds of Harry sleepily pressing her lips to Louis’ has been playing over and over and over again in her head all weekend. She’s lucky she didn’t get fired from her job on Sunday afternoon for being so distracted.

“Mm,” Louis mumbles.

Zayn gives Louis a look before shaking her head. She stubs out her cigarette on the ground as the first bell rings. 

“Back to it again,” she grumbles. 

Louis follows aimlessly, her mind otherwise occupied. 

“Seriously, what’s up with you?”

“Harry kissed me.”

Zayn stops in her tracks. “What?”

“She was half asleep, though, so I don’t think she remembers,” Louis says as they slowly make their way to registration. “And she hasn’t mentioned it again all weekend. So I think I’m reading into things.”

“Tell me what happened,” Zayn says. 

Louis tells her everything, Zayn nodding along. They take their seats in registration and Zayn turns to face Louis.

“Just ask her.”

Louis snorts. “This coming from _you_ who wanted me to go on your date with you and Niall?”

Zayn rolls her eyes. “That was before I spent my weekend snogging the fittest girl I’ve ever seen.”

Louis smirks. She’s happy to let the conversation go back to Zayn and Niall. She’s so happy that they hit it off, and that Zayn now has a girlfriend. It’s so lovely to see Zayn looking so content and at ease with herself. 

They don’t get a chance to talk again until lunchtime. They’re wandering towards their regular spot when Louis hears her voice being called. She lifts her head to see Harry walking towards them, smiling brightly. 

“Hi,” she says brightly. “Did you forget that we said we would rehearse today?”

Louis blinks. She had completely forgotten.

“Go,” Zayn says, smirking at Louis. “I’m going to go smoke anyway.”

Louis is helpless but to follow Harry to their choir room. There’s no one else in the music corridor, but that doesn’t seem to matter to Harry, who slides a key into the locked doors and waltzes inside like she has every right to be there.

Once the door is closed, Harry presses Louis up against it and kisses her. Louis lets out a startled gasp and turns her head away.

“What?” Louis says dumbly.

Harry blinks at her. “Oh. Do you not want to kiss at school? I get it.”

“I didn’t know we _were_ kissing, Harry,” Louis says. “We’re just friends, aren’t we?”

Harry blinks at her again. “But you kissed me the other night.”

“You kissed me when you were half asleep. I thought you didn’t remember because you never said anything about it the next day. I’d know if we were suddenly kissing each other.”

“But I’m _always_ flirting with you!” Harry exclaims. “I send you love heart emojis _all the time_. And you flirt back, too. I said I like butch girls!”

“I thought you mean _in general_.”

Harry gives her an amused grin. “I like _one_ butch girl,” she says. “ _One_ butch girl who sings so beautifully it makes me want to cry. _One_ butch girl who smiles at me in a way that makes me feel like I’m the only person on the planet. _One_ butch girl who watched _Glee_ with me and made me feel like Rachel Berry every time she does a duet with a male.”

Louis is stunned. She stays silent as Harry closes the gap between them. 

“I like _you_.”

She’s impossibly close now. The intent is absolutely clear and Louis’ heart thuds in her chest. 

“I like you too,” she whispers.

Harry’s beaming smile is the last thing she sees before they’re finally kissing for real.

~*~

If Sally was pissed off with _two_ lesbian lead soloists in the choir, then she was going to be _super pissed_ that they were also girlfriends.

Louis happily sings the beautiful songs with Harry during their performance, knowing that they’re two girls singing love songs to each other. It’s the best revenge that anyone could have.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi again. If you've got this far, I hope you enjoyed this part. ♥  
> Please leave me a comment if you liked it. I love comments so very much a lot. ♥
> 
>  
> 
> rebloggable post on my [tumblr](http://star55.tumblr.com/post/184169062866)


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